Jaedon Enchelmayer will tell you about karate. He might even show you, on the side of the street, if you ask him.

Enchelmayer has attended River Valley Martial Arts, a Christian-based dojo in Russellville, since he was 8 years old and has moved quickly through the ranks.

At age 10, Enchelmayer already holds a purple belt, which is only two away from black, and has several awards he’s garnered throughout his career. Most recently, he won the sparring division in the Mid-West Tournament in Fayetteville on April 6 and finished fourth place in kata.

Kata is, as Enchelmayer described it, sort of like shadow-boxing — almost like dancing. More specifically, kata are formal exercises which combine basic karate techniques — blocking, striking and kicking — into a series of predetermined movements. The idea is to ingrain the movements so thoroughly that when the situation presents itself, they are second-nature.

Sparring, on the other hand, is more direct. It is a form of training common to many combat sports, not just karate. Although the precise form varies, it is essentially fighting, with enough rules, customs or agreements to make injuries unlikely.

Enchelmayer said he became interested in karate because he wanted to be athletic and to learn self defense.

“A lot of people go to karate because they want to learn to fight on the streets and to make fights,” he said. “And sometimes they do it just to pick on people. They want to say they have a black belt and they can beat you up.”

Enchelmayer said he has seen this “at least once”in real life and several times in movies.

But karate is not about beating people up.

A banner hangs across the dojo that reads, “There are no first attacks in karate.” For Enchelmayer and other members of River Valley Martial Arts, karate is about respect — both for other people and for themselves. Their sensei, Kyle Bennett, ingrains it into them at every meeting.

“One of the reasons I stick with Mr. Kyle is that he teaches us so much respect,” Enchelmayer said. “He makes us say ‘Yes, sir,’ and if you forget, you have to do push-ups. He says that even if you’re a black belt in karate, you’re still not a master about everything. There’s always more you can learn.”

Enchelmayer plans to devote himself to his martial arts and claimed that after he had learned enough karate, he was going to move on to kung-fu.

“I’m going to commit my entire life to this,” he said. “At least, I’m going to put a lot of my effort into it.”